Planning in Divided Cities

Planning in Divided Cities

Description

Does planning in contested cities inadvertedly make the divisions worse? The 60s and 70s saw a strong role of planning, social engineering, etc but there has since been a move towards a more decentralised ‘community planning’ approach.

The book examines urban planning and policy in the context of deeply contested space, where place identity and cultural affinities are reshaping cities. Throughout the world, contentions around identity and territory abound, and in Britain, this problem has found recent expression in debates about multiculturalism and social cohesion. These issues are most visible in the urban arena, where socially polarised communities co-habit cities also marked by divided ethnic loyalties. The relationship between the two is complicated by the typical pattern that social disadvantage is disproportionately concentrated among ethnic groups, who also experience a social and cultural estrangement, based on religious or racial identity.

Navigating between social exclusion and community cohesion is essential for the urban challenges of efficient resource use, environmental enhancement, and the development of a flourishing economy.

The book addresses planning in divided cities in a UK and international context, examining cities such as Chicago, hyper-segregated around race, and Jerusalem, acting as a crucible for a wider conflict.

The first section deals with concepts and theories, examining the research literature and situating the issue within the urban challenges of competitiveness and inclusion. Section 2 covers collaborative planning and identifies models of planning, policy and urban governance that can operate in contested space. Section 3 presents case studies from Belfast, Chicago and Jerusalem, examining both the historical/contemporary features of these cities and their potential trajectories. The final section offers conclusions and ways forward, drawing the lessons for creating shared space in a pluralist cities and addressing cohesion and multiculturalism.

• Addresses important contemporary issue of social cohesion vs. urban competitiveness • focus on impact of government policies will appeal to practitioners in urban management, local government and regeneration • Examines role of planning in cities worldwide divided by religion, race, socio-economic, etc • Explores debate about contested space in urban policy and planning • Identifies models for understanding contested spaces in cities as a way of improving effectiveness of government policy

About the Author

Professor Frank Gaffikin (Director of Research) and Professor Mike Morrissey: both of the Institute of Spatial and Environmental Planning, School of Planning and Civil Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast

Examines forms of urban conflict over resources, identity and sovereignty leading to a new typology of urban contests that distinguished between ‘pluralist’ and ‘sovereignty’ disputes, with some detailed examples. Also specifies the key theoretical frameworks within which space and place are currently conceived, elucidating the distinctive features of ‘contested space’..

Chapter 2: Multicultural versus Cosmopolitan Urbanism.

Explores contemporary debates about the efficacy of multiculturalism compared to cosmopolitanism, in the context of policies for greater community cohesion and social inclusion. Identifies the links among important components of sustainable cities: addressing ‘the deprived city’; the ‘competitive city’; and the ‘public city’. For instance, in what ways can ‘bonding’ social capital that accentuates solidarity within identity communities impair the requisite common civic purpose for a competitive city? In what ways can the issues of social exclusion overlap with those of inter-communal rivalry and strife, so that interventions to alleviate social deprivation can unintentionally sharpen divides?.

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SECTION 2: Collaborative Planning in an Uncollaborative World .

Chapter 3: Managing Divided Cities.

Focuses on policy responses ranging from the benign to the coercive, examining how the operational logic of conflicts reshapes both governance and policy – for instance, the frictions between (1) expanding human rights & democracy and dealing with insurgency; and (2) includes the disaffected and the costs of these interventions to other citizens. The analysis includes an outline of the diseconomies of conflict, and the related stultification of viable development, as an indication of the twin process of regeneration and reconciliation..

Chapter 4: Contested Space: The Failure of Planning.

This chapter explores the extent to which conventional planning models deal with these problems. Can urban planning and policy inadvertently accentuate rather than ameliorate the city conflict? Do planning systems need to be reshaped for conflict situations? Yet, what are the limits of collaborative planning in achieving such objectives?.

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SECTION 3: Case Studies: Belfast; Chicago; Jerusalem.

Chapters 5 & 6: New Approaches to Planning Divided Cities.

Following these previous theoretical and discursive sections, this part offers the empirical evidence. Two main case studies, each dealing with two cities. One would be in the context of the UK, comparing Belfast with Leicester, a similar sized English city; and the other would be international, comparing Chicago and Jerusalem. In each of the two case studies, ‘pluralist’ city conflicts (Leicester and Chicago) are compared to ‘sovereignty’ city conflicts (Belfast and Jerusalem caught up in ethno-nationalist disputes). While the UK experience of exclusion and division allows comment on contemporary community cohesion/Islamic fundamentalism issues, the focus on Chicago and Jerusalem allows appraisal of conflict in two cities of global significance. The data for this analysis derives from an international research project on contested cities..

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SECTION 4: Conclusions and Ways Forward.

Chapter 7: Rethinking Cosmopolis Amid Increasing Diversity .

This chapter proposes a new model of agonistic planning, more suited to addressing the dilemmas of contested space, and located within an approach to conflict resolution designed to transform rather than manage divided cities..

• Addresses important contemporary issue of social cohesion vs. urban competitiveness • focus on impact of government policies will appeal to practitioners in urban management, local government and regeneration • Examines role of planning in cities worldwide divided by religion, race, socio-economic, etc • Explores debate about contested space in urban policy and planning • Identifies models for understanding contested spaces in cities as a way of improving effectiveness of government policy